by Shah Shahid · Published September 6, 2016 · Updated October 17, 2016

‘Rock On’ (2008) was a sort of milestone for Bollywood films, that went quietly unnoticed by the masses. While it wasn’t technically an independent film, its subject matter was very urban youth orientated, therefore not widely appealing. Possibly Bollywood’s first movie featuring a ‘Behind The Music’ style narration, it launched the acting + singing career of Farhan Akthar, as well as director Abhishek Kapoor.

8 years later, the landmark film gets a sequel that is comparably more mainstream with new talent and the nostalgia that made the first film such an underrated success.

Check out the Teaser for ‘Rock On 2’ below and share your thoughts in the comments.

‘Rock On’saw the lives of 4 musicians, years after the high point of their lives as a successful rock band. The movie featured aging musicians whose lives were never the same after a tragedy devastated the group. The story saw them reunite, as their troubles were told through flashback. It was like a musically inclined ‘Dil Chahta Hai’,Farhan Akhtar’s directorial debut.

The movie had an epic soundtrack with Farhan Akthar crooning majority of the tracks and showcasing his songwriting, composing and playback singing chops, as well his immense acting talent, all in the same movie. A sequel was almost inevitable.

Since then, Akthar has gone on to have proven himself in many acting roles, while his directing work may not be as unanimously praised. So it’s only natural that a sequel to his first film returns in the limelight, bringing along with them the cast of the film featuring Arjun Rampal, (‘D-Day’) Purab Kohli, (‘Sense 8’) with new additions Shraddha Kapoor (‘Haider’) and Shashank Arora. (‘Titli’)

The teaser for ‘Rock On 2’ features the same intensity and dramatic elements that the first film had, juxtaposed with the blaring hard rock that became the motif of the official soundtrack. While the veteran actors are older, the new film looks to focus on the addition of the newcomers into the cast as Akthar’s character can be seen given Kapoor’s a pep talk to just sing. Even the signature title track for the first film has new female vocals laid over it in the teaser.

This isn’t Shraddha’s first film about a performer, as she’s played an up and coming singer before in ‘Aashiqui 2’ and a dancer in ‘ABCD 2’. Sequels seems to the young actress’ thing. While Arora has mostly been seen in independent art house films like ‘Brahman Naman’, this will be his first mainstream film to date.

‘Rock On 2’ also sees the return of supporting characters like Prachi Desai, as Akthar’s character’s wife, while Shahana Goswami (‘Heroine’) returns as Rampal’s character’s wife. So there is hope that ‘Rock On 2’ will not just be a typical Bollywood franchise film with same cast playing different characters in a completely different story, but an actual continuation of the previous story; something that Akthar’s character even alludes to in the teaser itself.

While ‘Rock On’ launched the directorial career of Abhishek Kapoor, who’s gone on to direct films like ‘Kai Po Che’ & ‘Fitoor’,the sequel will be directed by debutant Shujaat Saudagar, with a story penned by original screenwriter Pubali Chaudhari and Kapoor himself.